Second Chances in the Mist
by Rider Paladin
Summary: A mysterious force offers Zabuza a second chance to be with Haku. The catch? They have been spun into a new life with familiar faces . . . and Haku doesn't remember a thing.
1. Rebirth in the Mist

"Second Chances in the Mist"

Chapter 1: "Rebirth in the Mist"

Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters do not belong to me by any means. Masashi Kishimoto and Shonen Jump own the series and its characters, not me.

Author's note: I am not a fan of the genre yaoi/shounen-ai in general. However, there are specific pairings that I have developed a fondness for. One of those pairings is Zabuza/Haku. They had a tragic ending in the Naruto series and I wanted to see them with a happier, or at least more hopeful, ending than what they got. So this story is my way of making it happen.

* * *

As Zabuza died, his last thought was, _I'll see you soon, Haku-chan._

When the Demon of the Hidden Mist awakened, he was surrounded by ethereal blue mist.

"Where am I?" he asked.

"_Relax, Momochi Zabuza,_" a deep yet wraithlike voice answered. "_You're not in hell . . . not yet._"

"Where's Haku?" Zabuza asked.

"_Somewhere else,_" the voice replied. "_Never mind your consort for now. I have an offer to make you._"

"What?" Zabuza spat.

"_How would you like to do it all over again?_" the voice asked. "_A second chance for you and Haku._ _A new life for you both."_

"What kind of shit are you spewing?" Zabuza asked.

"_It's not a lie, Zabuza,_" the voice responded. "_I really can give you both a new life. All you have to do . . . is accept my offer._"

If the voice had had a corporeal form attached to it, Zabuza would have most likely attempted to cut it down. That impulse, though, was checked by his love for Haku. As much as he hated to admit to anyone other than himself, he needed the boy much like most mortals needed air to breathe. If whoever was talking to him really could give him a second chance to be with Haku, what choice did he have . . . other than to refuse and go to hell?

"You've got a deal, motherfucker," Zabuza growled. "But if I find out you've been bullshitting me, I'll die again just so I can track you down and kill you."

"_All right, then,_" the voice spoke. "_There is a catch, though._"

"What?" Zabuza asked.

"_You'll be the only one to remember your past,_" the voice answered. "_So you'll have to make him love you all over again._"

"Fine," Zabuza hissed. "Long as I get to see him again, that's all I care about."

The next thing Zabuza knew, the blue mist was so bright that it was blinding. Zabuza instinctively shut his eyes . . .

* * *

. . . and opened them again to find himself in a bed.

"Ugh, what kind of freaky shit was that?" he asked himself. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. Daylight seeped through the curtains of his room, enough for him to know that his room was sparsely decorated. There was a desk and chair, a dresser, a closet, a nightstand, and of course his bed. A look down at himself revealed that he was wearing nothing but a pair of black cotton drawstring pants.

Memories began to flow into his mind, of a rough childhood spent fighting to survive and gain respect among his peers, of graduating college early, of taking up a teaching job at a junior high school at the age of 22, and of having Haku as a student since the 8th grade.

Zabuza glanced at the clock on his nightstand, which told him in glaring green letters that he was on the verge of being late.

"Dammit," the assassin muttered and dashed into the bathroom, removing his pants and entering the shower. He turned the "COLD" knob up to maximum and stood under the icy water, quickly cleaning himself.

Five minutes later, he was dry and dressing himself. Black slacks hugged his legs, a white dress shirt covered his scarred torso, and black leather shoes encased his feet. A black tie and leather jacket completed the ensemble.

Skipping breakfast, Zabuza raced out the door of his apartment and down the stairway of his apartment building at a speed that would kill a lesser man. Once in the parking lot of his apartment complex, he stalked to his motorcycle and straddled it, revving it up and riding out onto the street at breakneck speed.

* * *

He made it to Konoha Junior High just before the tardy bell rang. Walking inside, he was greeted by a silver-haired young teacher wearing a patch over his left eye.

"Ohayo, Zabuza-san," he greeted amiably.

"What do you want, Kakashi?" Zabuza growled.

"Just to inform you that your class is waiting patiently for you," Hatake Kakashi replied with that same amiable tone. His voice dropped lower, almost conspiratorially as he added, "Especially Haku."

* * *

Zabuza growled again and stalked to his first class, which was Japanese History. At the moment, he recalled that they were covering the role of ninja in Japan's history.

"Morning, class," he growled when he entered.

"Morning, Momochi-sensei," the class greeted back.

Zabuza immediately noticed Haku, who was as feminine as ever, to the point of being dressed in the girl's uniform instead of the standard boy's uniform. Despite the lack of feminine curves, Haku filled out the uniform quite well, he silently remarked.

"Can anyone tell me a myth surrounding the ninja?" Zabuza asked.

"That they had special powers?" one of the students piped up.

"That's one," Zabuza replied. "Anyone else?"

"That they always wore black and carried swords?" Haku suggested.

"Yes," Zabuza confirmed. "We are going to dispel those myths here in this class. First of all, ninja did not have special powers. They simply made it look as though they did through deception, as a form of psychological warfare."

"Psychological warfare," another student, recognized by Zabuza as Uchiha Sasuke, echoed, gazing intently at him.

"Yeah," Zabuza answered. "You see, psychological warfare is what happens when you take advantage of your opponent's mental hang-ups to either make him back down or make a serious mistake that grants you the opening you need to finish him off."

The class said nothing, allowing Zabuza to continue.

"Ninja did not wear black. They simply wore whatever colors would enable them to blend into their environment. Since many ninja made their kills in the forest, they wore forest colors so as to camouflage themselves. If ninja were to operate in modern times, they most likely would wear black because they'd operate at night and not in the day where they could be seen by other people.

"Ninja sometimes used swords, but not all the time. If a ninja were to disguise himself as a merchant, would a merchant carry a sword?"

"No," Haku replied. "The merchant would most likely carry a dagger that could be concealed on his person for self-defense."

"Correct, Haku-chan," Zabuza stated.

As the class went on, Zabuza noticed that while Haku took notes, his soulful dark eyes kept traveling up to lock on him.

_Is this reincarnation of Haku attracted to me?_ he wondered. _No, he's probably just paying attention to what I'm saying. Still, if he is attracted to me, it'll go a long way toward my mission._

* * *

Eventually, class was over and Zabuza was on his way to the next class he had to teach, as in Japanese schools, it was the teachers that switched classes instead of the students. If his new memories served him, this next class would be a pain.

In the next class, he spotted a very aggravatingly familiar face. This face sported azure eyes and three whisker-like markings on the cheeks, as well as wild blond hair on the head.

Uzumaki Naruto.

At the moment, Zabuza was teaching the students the English language. Naruto kept interrupting it by writing perverted words.

"Naruto-kun . . . will you stop that?" he asked for what had to be the tenth time this day.

"Stop what?" Naruto asked with a wicked glint in his eye.

"Writing perverted words," Zabuza answered grimly.

"Why?" Naruto asked. "They're part of the English language, too, aren't they?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean we speak or write them in school," Zabuza answered in his most menacingly condescending voice. All of his students knew that when he used that voice he meant business.

"Uh-huh," Naruto spoke in an almost bored voice.

Zabuza growled and stalked back to his desk, from which he continued to teach the class . . . until he made the mistake of asking Naruto to read page 46 out loud. In predictably unpredictable fashion, Naruto twisted the beginning paragraph of that page, reading it so that it sounded like this:

"_Taku_ _gaped with awe when he saw Miya slowly reveal her womanly treasures to him. He drooled visibly when he saw her tits –_"

"NARUTO-KUN!" Zabuza roared. "For that, you're going to write a short essay about the English language . . ."

"Sounds easy," Naruto cracked, only to catch the bone-chilling smirk on Zabuza's face.

". . . in English," Zabuza finished.

"What?" Naruto uttered.

"If your command of the English language is such that you can recite pornography to the class, then you should have no problem writing it," Zabuza spoke with that same frightening smirk still on his face. "Two full pages. After school."

"Shit!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Three pages," Zabuza amended.

Undeterred by this, Naruto prepared a spit wad and launched it at Zabuza through a straw while the teacher-slash-assassin had his back turned. To his surprise, Zabuza simply moved his head out of the way without even looking.

"How did you do that?" the blond asked.

"Four pages," Zabuza replied without even turning to look at Naruto. "Class dismissed."

* * *

Zabuza walked out the door and to the gymnasium. Looking through the plate-glass window of the door, he saw the boys' group climbing the twin ropes two at a time while the girls' group played volleyball. His eyes locked on Haku, who was currently climbing one of the ropes. He watched appreciatively as the cross-dresser's slim, toned legs flexed, exposed by the girl's gym shorts he wore.

"Observing Haku-chan again, Zabuza-san?" the gratingly amiable voice of Kakashi asked.

Zabuza didn't bother looking at the other teacher. "Fuck off, Kakashi."

"Now is that language to be using in a school?" Kakashi asked mockingly.

"I should . . ." Zabuza started to say, only to cut himself off when he spotted another familiar face in the gym. It was the useless pink-haired kunoichi brat Haruno Sakura . . . and dressed quite fetchingly in the girl's gym uniform. He chuckled evilly. "I know why you're here, Kakashi."

Kakashi just snorted. "What would you know of my reasons for being here?"

"Sakura-chan," Zabuza answered, drawing out the honorific. "She'll never notice you in a hundred years, Hatake. Not so long as she's obsessed with her 'darling Sasuke-kun.'"

"We'll be late to our classes if we keep talking like this," Kakashi stated, changing the subject.

"I suppose," Zabuza agreed, he and Kakashi parting company to make it to their respective classes.

* * *

Eventually, the time for lunch came and Zabuza found Kakashi in the teacher's lounge, reading a book. A cursory peep at the cover revealed the book in question to be _Icha_ _Icha Paradise,_ the English translation being _Make-Out Paradise._

"Why do you insist on reading that trash?" Zabuza inquired.

"To find out what happens next," Kakashi answered.

"No, I think it's just because you're a pervert," Zabuza grumbled.

"Hi, Momochi-san," a dark-haired woman clad in a blouse and skirt that were two different shades of blue greeted politely.

Zabuza spared her a grunt and a "Kurenai." He slumped into a seat and removed a metal lunchbox from his bag, opening it to reveal a utilitarian meal. He ate it with little haste. It didn't taste good or bad to him; he'd long ago ceased caring about those things. He just ate because it was necessary, because his body needed fuel every so often and would give out on him if it didn't get it.

"Gee, you're grouchy," Yuhi Kurenai remarked.

Zabuza didn't bother looking at her, although he could hear her move on to conversing with Asuma and Maito Gai. Once he finished his meal, he sent dagger-like stares of death to Kakashi's silver head, while Umino Iruka attempted to draw the patch-wearing teacher from his book. The most hateful thing about the patch-wearing teacher, other than his nigh-unflappable demeanor, was that they actually had something in common in this life. They were both in love with their students, Zabuza with Haku and Kakashi with Sakura. Neither one could do anything about it, as even though Haku and Sakura were legally old enough to consent to sex, any relationship with them until after they'd passed the entrance exams and entered high school would be seen as an exploitation of the teacher-student bond. Fortunately for them, no one else knew of their feelings but them.

Zabuza snorted softly. He could live with the consequences of being found out, as he didn't give a flying fuck what anyone thought of him. As for Kakashi, he valued Kurenai, Asuma, and Gai as friends and Zabuza knew full well that the silver-haired teacher would be crushed if any of them were to think any less of him because of his feelings for his student.

After Iruka had moved away from Kakashi and to his own lunch, Zabuza curiously peered over Kakashi's shoulder and read a passage concerning a beautiful student's attempt to seduce her teacher. With a snicker, he commented, "Wishing Haruno-chan would do that to you, Hatake?"

Kakashi didn't respond, only continuing to read. Zabuza chose not to bother with him any more than that, stalking out of the teacher's lounge and going to watch the students that had chosen to eat outside. Well, that was the excuse he'd offer to anyone who happened to see him and inquire as to what he was doing. In reality, he was just watching Haku, though his eyes moved to the other students every so often so as to deflect suspicion from himself.

Haku didn't really have many friends, since most people tended to avoid him once they found out that he wasn't a girl but merely a very feminine boy who liked to wear girl's clothes. The only two people he consistently interacted with on a friendly basis were a red-haired boy named Sabaku Gaara and a pale-eyed girl named Hyuga Hinata. Gaara was extremely hot-blooded and almost insane in temperament, as to which scores of visits to the principal's office for violent behavior toward fellow students would attest. Hinata, on the other hand, was even shier than Haku, particularly where a certain troublemaker was concerned. Honestly, Zabuza didn't know what she saw in that brat.

Haku was presently sitting with Gaara and Hinata, both of whom had offered to share their food with him, the former somewhat grudgingly. Haku had refused, saying that he was fine with the food he had already.

"You should eat," Hinata insisted softly. "You're almost nothing but bone and skin."

"He probably wants to maintain his girlish figure," Gaara remarked sarcastically.

Haku cracked a slight smile.

Zabuza's deadly serious expression lightened somewhat when he caught sight of Haku's smile. The boy had smiled so rarely in the last life, mainly because of Zabuza's insistence that he was just a weapon and weapons were not supposed to smile. The assassin-cum-teacher snorted in self-derision.

_He'll smile a lot more often now,_ he thought fiercely.

"Again with watching Yukikaze-chan, Zabuza-san?" he heard Kakashi ask from behind him.

"What the hell do you want, Kakashi?" Zabuza asked.

"You might not want to let your eyes linger on him so long, Zabuza-san," Kakashi advised. "You'll draw attention to yourself."

"Aren't you supposed to be spying on Sakura-chan?" Zabuza inquired with a sneer. "She's _your_ personal obsession, not Haku."

Kakashi grunted, a sign of the strain of maintaining his composed demeanor.

"Why do you insist on following me around every time I go to see Haku?" Zabuza asked. "It's not like I bother you when you're stalking Sakura-chan."

"It's not stalking if you stay out in the open," Kakashi answered.

Zabuza chuckled as the bell rang. "We'd better get back before anyone starts missing us."

"Like anyone would miss you," Kakashi quipped as the two walked into the school building.

The quip was innocent enough, but it made Zabuza think. _Would Haku miss me if I were to die today?_ He shook his head. _Quit it, Zabuza. You're getting introspective again and we don't have time for that shit._

* * *

After classes were over for the day, Zabuza sat at the desk of a classroom watching Naruto struggle through the first half of his four-page English-language essay with an expression of cold self-satisfaction on his face. While Naruto wrote his essay, Zabuza looked through the papers of his Japanese History students. Haku's paper was the one he spent the longest on, admiring the boy's penmanship.

Before he knew it, Naruto had handed him his essay. Zabuza looked through it. "Not bad. Your handwriting leaves a lot to be desired, but at least I can understand what you're saying. In the future, keep the perverted language outside of school."

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto grumbled. "Can I go now?"

"Sure," Zabuza replied. "If I have to see you here again, I'll make it worse. Got it?"

"Got it," Naruto griped before walking out.

Zabuza was about to leave the classroom when Haku walked in.

"Momochi-sensei," he greeted.

"Haku-chan," Zabuza greeted. "What brings you here?"

"I . . . wanted to see you," Haku admitted shyly.

"About?" Zabuza prompted.

"I'm having a hard time with the names of the weapons ninja used," Haku replied.

"Kunai were short daggers with diamond-shaped blades and hilts with loops on the ends," Zabuza stated. "Shuriken were typically four-pronged throwing weapons. Typically, such weapons were meant merely to disable and stun, but they could also be used as killing weapons. You ever heard of the kisarigama?"

"Ki . . . sari . . . gama?" Haku echoed hesitantly.

"Beautiful weapon," Zabuza continued. "A sickle with a chain attached. You used the chain to ensnare your enemy and then you went in for the kill with the sickle."

"If you say so," Haku spoke.

Zabuza carefully studied the young man while making a pretense of casualness. He had clearly frightened him with his talk of the kisarigama, but at the same time, he could tell that he was intrigued.

"If you're having trouble, I could tutor you," Zabuza offered. "I mean, entrance exams are coming up and you're probably worried about getting into a good high school."

"Domo arigato gozaimasu, Momochi-sensei," Haku spoke. "I would like that very much."

"All right," Zabuza said. "We'll start tomorrow after class. Right now, you probably need to get home."

* * *

Haku walked back to his home in an almost-dizzy state.

_Momochi-sensei offered to tutor me,_ he thought. _Does he like me?_ The young man shook his head to clear it of such foolish thoughts. _No, he's my teacher and he doesn't seem like the kind to be interested in a relationship with anyone, least of all a cross-dressing boy._

Haku found himself in front of a large two-story house painted beige-and-red. The house looked like an ordinary house and it was, aside from the fact that it was home to youths that were rendered outcasts by Japanese society for their sexual orientation. A young woman named Mitarashi Anko had started it recently to show those young men and women that there were people who were willing to accept them.

A sad fact of the Japanese culture was that if the Japanese didn't like something, they simply pretended it wasn't there unless they were confronted by it. A homosexual or bisexual person could act straight or simply not exhibit their attraction to the same gender in front of others and that would be fine. A boy who dressed in girl's clothes, on the other hand, constantly exhibited his deviance in front of others and that had been why Haku's parents finally threw him out of their house.

_Thankfully, I found these people,_ Haku thought as he entered the house.

"Hi, Haku-chan," a young woman with spiky dark hair greeted.

"Hi, Anko-san," Haku greeted. Without a further word, he walked upstairs to his room, sitting at his desk and preparing to study. Five minutes later, he heard a knock on the door. "Come in."

A girl with spiky blond hair entered the room. "Hey, Haku-chan. Mind if I help you with that homework?"

"Go ahead, Temari-senpai," Haku replied.

Temari walked to Haku and peered over his shoulder while he did his algebra homework. "Actually, _x_ equals 6."

Haku blushed. "No wonder this problem was confusing me. Thanks, Temari-senpai."

"You're welcome, Haku-chan," Temari responded. She sighed. "I'm still having a hard time believing you're a guy."

"What's there not to believe?" Haku replied. "I was born with a penis. No getting around it, even if I do look and sound like a girl."

"Not to mention dress like one," Temari added.

"I like girl's clothes," Haku admitted. "They're more comfortable."

"Just don't get in the wrong section of the train when you're going to school," Temari remarked. "Plenty of old perverts there that'd love to rub up against someone as pretty as you."

Haku shuddered. "Thank you for putting that image in my head, Temari-senpai."

At least, the older girl had the decency to look embarrassed. "Sorry, Haku-chan."

Haku just smiled warmly at her before resuming his homework. Temari ceased hovering over him and turned on the CD player, immediately hearing the music of Björk.

"Nice," she remarked.

Temari was the elder sister of Gaara and along with him one of the few friends Haku had. She'd been quite shocked when she'd found out Haku was a boy, shocked enough to verify it by groping his chest and groin, much to the embarrassment of both Gaara and Haku. She got over it quickly enough, although she had a bad habit of dragging him to exotic lingerie stores just to tease him.

* * *

That night, Zabuza opened his closet and reached past his clothes to pull out a black sleeveless shirt and pants, both made of motorcycle leathers. He quickly donned them, along with black open-toed boots and black-spotted off-white arm-covers that buckled at the ends. He wrapped white gauze around his face, concealing everything all the way up to his eyes. He tied a black forehead protector around his forehead and twisted it so that the metal bar faced his left. He strapped a pouch of kunai and shuriken to his right thigh and finally, he attached a large sword to his back.

Momochi Zabuza was no more for this night.

This night, the Demon of the Hidden Mist went hunting.

The Demon's hunt had him stalking a businessman named Tazuna. Gato, the man who had hired him, wanted Tazuna dead because Tazuna had bought out the R & D division of his business and he was going to use his technology to improve the hospitals. Naturally, a man as vile and self-centered as Gato didn't want his inventions being used to help others. So he'd called upon the Demon of the Hidden Mist to kill Tazuna. Once Tazuna was dead, Gato could take his company and regain control of his technology.

The Demon shadowed Tazuna's limo from the rooftops of the city. Fortunately for him, Tazuna's driver was taking sparsely populated back roads to avoid traffic and get him to his destination quickly.

_Good,_ he thought. _This makes my job a lot easier._

Pumping chakra into his legs to grant himself extra speed, the Demon ran ahead of the limousine and jumped off the rooftop, somersaulting and landing in front of the limousine.

"What the fuck?" the driver uttered in shock as he slammed the brakes.

With a few quick hand motions, the Demon performed a technique that transformed the moisture in the air into a blinding mist. With everyone else's vision obscured, he somersaulted above the limo and crashed into the backseat through the sunroof.

"Who the hell are you?" Tazuna asked.

"The man who's gonna kill you," the Demon replied, casually lounging on the seat across from Tazuna. The businessman's two bodyguards reached for their guns. "You two oughtta be careful. Ya miss me, ya might hit your boss." He knocked on the glass partition separating the backseat from the front seat. "After all, this is bulletproof, right?"

One of the bodyguards growled softly.

The Demon of the Hidden Mist reached into his pouch and pulled out two kunai, throwing them at the bodyguards. The kunai sliced their throats and both guards slumped over, bleeding to death from their throats.

"Should have hired better guards," he remarked. "Now get out of the car. I can't kill you proper with so little space."

Tazuna sat there in silent defiance.

"Oh, you wanna play like that, huh?" the Demon remarked. "Brave guy." He reached behind him and withdrew his large sword, thrusting it upward so that it penetrated the roof of the limousine. One swift motion later, the back of the limo had been torn in half.

Tazuna ran for his life and the Demon followed. "Run all you like, little pig," he hissed under his breath. "I'll still find you."

"Is that so?" a familiar, annoyingly confident voice asked.

The Demon stopped in his tracks, confronted by a man in navy blue Kevlar mesh and a dull green vest. His face was concealed all the way up to his eyes by a navy blue mask and his left eye was concealed by his forehead protector. All that could be seen of him was a dark right eye and silver hair.

"Copy Ninja," the Demon snarled.

"Demon of the Hidden Mist," the Copy Ninja retorted calmly.

"Get the fuck out of my way!" the Demon of the Hidden Mist roared.

"I think not," the Copy Ninja replied. "After all, I was hired to protect this man."

The Demon chuckled. "Not like you can copy my techniques with my mist blocking your vision."

"I don't need to," the Copy Ninja said. "After all, I've already copied a thousand." He withdrew three kunai from the pouch strapped to his thigh and threw them at the Demon, who dodged and slashed at him with his large sword. The Copy Ninja blocked his slash with a kunai and kicked him in the solar plexus, causing his foe to stumble back.

With a few more hand motions, the Demon created a dragon out of water and sent it after the Copy Ninja, who retaliated with a water dragon of his own.

"Damn it," the Demon muttered under his breath. "Forgot that this bastard already copied that technique."

The two water dragons clashed, canceling each other out in a huge splash. The Demon created twenty water clones and they all swarmed the Copy Ninja, attacking him with their swords. While the silver-haired ninja was distracted, his opponent chased down Tazuna . . .

. . . only to be halted by the Copy Ninja.

"Damn you," the Demon of the Hidden Mist spat. "You're using shadow clones to fight my water clones, aren't you?"

"How astute," the Copy Ninja answered calmly, pulling out three kunai in one hand and three shuriken in the other. He threw the six projectile weapons at the Demon, who blocked them all with his sword and charged at him.

"Quit wasting my time," he snarled as the Copy Ninja blocked his sword with a kunai. His eyes suddenly widened in realization.

_That's the whole fucking point of this exercise!_ the Demon silently roared. _He's delaying me! The longer I fight him, the more time Tazuna has to get away!_

He swung his sword in an arc and the Copy Ninja ducked, enabling the Demon to jump over him and break into a chakra-fueled sprint. The Copy Ninja sprinted after him and the two threw shuriken and kunai at each other as they ran along parallel courses. By the time they exhibited the Demon's field of mist, Tazuna was already gone.

"Fuck," the Demon uttered.

"My job is done," the Copy Ninja stated. "By now, Tazuna is on his way back home. And your boss Gato will certainly not be happy that you've failed your task. Of course, that's an understatement. Later days."

With that farewell, the Copy Ninja vanished into seeming nothingness.

The Copy Ninja was right about one thing, the Demon of the Hidden Mist mused. Saying that Gato would be unhappy with his failure _was_ an understatement. The scumbag would probably send his thugs after him and while the Demon was very certain he could defeat them, he was also certain that he didn't want to deal with that stress. Apparently, his only choice was to lay low for the time being and place his full energies in being Momochi Zabuza, schoolteacher than split them between that and being Momochi Zabuza, the Demon of the Hidden Mist.

As he made his way back home, the Demon thought, _At least I'll have more time to be with Haku._

* * *

End Notes: So what did you think of my first attempt at shounen-ai/yaoi? Not too badly, I hope. Personally, I'm more of a shoujo-ai/yuri guy, but there are some shounen-ai pairings I'm fond of, Zabuza/Haku being one of them. That's why I'm writing this story.

Why are there ninja in this new life? I'll explain in the next chapter. If you're wondering if Zabuza and the "Copy Ninja" are the only ninja in this story, I'll explain that, too, in the next chapter.

As for ages, the ages of the adult ninja are the same as in the show, but Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Hinata, and Gaara are 14-15, while Haku is still 15 and Temari is 17.

That's all out of me. Feel free to tell me how much you liked or hated this story.


	2. Getting Closer

"Second Chances in the Mist"

Chapter 2: "Getting Closer"

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, Shonen Jump, and Viz. I have nothing to do with any of them.

Author's note: I recently watched the conclusion of Zabuza's arc and I was deeply saddened. Granted, both he and Haku had beautiful death scenes, but I deeply wish they hadn't died. This story is basically one big tribute to them.

Also, I've edited Chapter 1 slightly.

On with the story.

* * *

The Demon of the Hidden Mist sneaked into his apartment, unseen by his neighbors. Once inside, he unwrapped his bandages, revealing the face of Momochi Zabuza. He stripped off his ninja attire and packed it into the back of his wardrobe. He put on a pair of drawstring pants and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth. After that, he climbed into bed and soon faded into the realm of dreams.

_

* * *

The assassin gazed upon the dark head nestled on his chest with an expression most of his enemies would have considered alien to him: love._

_The dark head tilted upwards, revealing a smooth, feminine face with brown eyes gazing at him._

"_Sleep well?" he asked._

"_Yes," Zabuza's lover replied with a soft smile on his face._

"_Good," Zabuza murmured as he laid a soft kiss on the young man's forehead._

"_Come on, kiss me lower," his lover encouraged with a mischievous glint in his eye._

"_I really have corrupted you, haven't I?" Zabuza mused._

_His lover reached up and kissed him soundly on the lips. Zabuza responded, running his fingers through the boy's hair. When they parted, the boy spoke some of the sweetest words in any language._

"_Aishiteru, Zabuza."_

"_Aishiteru, Haku."_

* * *

That was when Zabuza woke up. "Damn it. Only a dream."

One wouldn't think that someone as terrifying as Zabuza would have such "soppy" dreams. When it came to Haku, though, the missing-nin found himself feeling rather mawkish. It was a weakness of his, but one he wouldn't be rid of any time soon.

He looked at the clock and realized that it was time to go back to Konoha Junior High and begin yet another day of hell.

All right, it wasn't so bad. He got to seriously fuck with that bastard Kakashi's head over his feelings for the Haruno girl and he got to see Haku. Two wonderful things that compensated for the hell some of his students put him through.

* * *

After classes were over for the day, Zabuza sat in a classroom waiting for Haku. He would have taken a short nap, but he didn't want Haku to see him sleeping and think he was lazy. As much as Zabuza liked to act the badass, the truth was that he valued Haku's opinion of him deeply.

The assassin-cum-teacher looked at his watch. It wasn't like Haku to be late for anything, not in all the time he'd known him – both lives counted.

It was at that moment that his sensitive ears alerted him to the sounds of a scuffle. He would have let one of the other teachers handle it, but something compelled him to go and find out for himself.

He exited the classroom and stalked toward the double doors to the stairway. Once there, he climbed up the stairs, the sounds of struggle growing louder as he got closer.

When he reached the top floor, he entered the hallway and walked straight to the rooftop access. He climbed up onto the rooftop and saw something that made his blood boil.

Three boys surrounded Haku, one of them holding a box. The other two were shoving Haku around as he struggled to get at the boy holding the box.

"Give it back!" Haku yelled.

"Why should I, you freak?" the box-holding boy sneered.

"It's mine!" Haku answered as he charged at the box-holding boy, only to be tripped by one of the other two boys. Haku fell on his front, his uniform skirt flying up to expose a pair of plain white panties.

"Nice panties, freak," the boy who had tripped him mocked.

Haku pulled down his skirt and rose to his feet, his face flushed with anger and humiliation.

Seeing that look on Haku's face and the sneers on his tormentors' faces made something snap inside Zabuza. Less than ten seconds later, those same tormentors were begging for mercy from the self-styled Demon of the Hidden Mist.

"You're lucky I'm a teacher and we're on school grounds," he sneered, his brown eyes alight with demonic fire.

"We'll leave him alone! We swear we will!" the box-holding boy whimpered.

"Good," Zabuza hissed. "Now get the fuck out of my sight!"

The boy who had been holding the box dropped it and, along with his two companions, ran back into the school.

Zabuza picked up the box and gave it back to Haku. "Are you all right?"

"Yes," Haku replied.

Zabuza noticed some scrapes on Haku's exposed legs. "I'll take you to the nurse to get those looked at."

Haku smiled wanly. "Thank you, Momochi-sensei."

"You're welcome," Zabuza answered.

As the two walked back into the school, Zabuza saw a folded piece of paper lying on the roof. He surreptitiously picked it up and slipped it into his pocket.

After having his legs bandaged by the school nurse Shizune, Haku and Zabuza walked toward the classroom where the latter was supposed to tutor the former.

"It's been rather stressful," Zabuza said. "Would you rather go home?"

"No," Haku replied softly.

* * *

An hour of tutoring later, Zabuza drove Haku home.

"So, Haku, what's your home life like?" Zabuza asked.

"It's nice," Haku answered. "Anko-san is nice to me. She's like a big sister."

"So I can assume you don't live with your parents," Zabuza deduced.

"No," Haku confirmed with a sad expression.

"What happened to them?" Zabuza inquired. "They die or something?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Haku responded softly.

"Then we don't talk about it," Zabuza conceded. "No big deal." _Great._ _The kid's life is as shitty now as it was then. Whoever that motherfucker was that brought us back, couldn't he have bothered to give Haku a happier life?_

_Then again, I'm still an assassin-for-hire. Hell._

Zabuza stopped in front of a two-story beige-painted house. "This it, Haku?"

"Hai," Haku replied. "Thank you, Momochi-sensei." He opened the passenger door and exited the car.

* * *

Zabuza drove back to his apartment and parked his car in the apartment complex's parking lot. He went back into his apartment and entered his office. He had a lot of papers to grade, so he might as well get started.

After several hours of grading papers, Zabuza entered the kitchen to cook himself a meal. It was a small meal, consisting only of what Zabuza needed to keep himself going.

He was effectively under house arrest. He couldn't go out as the Demon of the Hidden Mist, not unless he wanted to put a bull's-eye on his chest and back. That left him bored senseless.

He pulled the folded paper out of his pocket and opened it, revealing a drawing of a familiar man dressed in black with bandages covering half of his face and a large sword on his back. A familiar white mask with wave-like red designs hovered over the man.

The reason the man was so familiar to Zabuza was that that man was _him_ . . . and the mask belonged to Haku.

_Does he remember?_ Zabuza wondered.

* * *

"Haku-chan?"

"What is it, Anko-san?"

"Where did you get those scratches?"

"I took a fall."

"Don't bullshit me, Haku-chan. You know better than that."

Haku gazed into those unnerving dark eyes of Anko and found himself telling her everything.

"Some boys were harassing me. Trying to keep my box away from me. Momochi-sensei took care of them for me."

"That's good to hear," Anko said, her expression softening slightly. "Do you like him?"

"Yes, of course," Haku answered. "He's a good teacher."

"No, I mean do you _like_ him?" Anko amended with a wicked look in her eyes.

Haku blushed and looked away. "No, no, not like that!"

"Methinks you doth protest too much, sweet Haku," Anko purred, sounding more like a mischievous cat than a human woman.

"Ahh, Anko-san, you're embarrassing me," Haku protested.

Anko just smirked. "You're cute when you blush."

"Anko-san . . ."

Anko had the feeling that if this were some shoujo animé, she and Haku would be making out right now. In truth, she did find him attractive and if she had been the ruthless viper she was years before, she'd have taken him the moment he stepped into her home. However, she wasn't sure if he was attracted to women at all and she knew for a fact that this Zabuza Momochi held his heart.

_Lucky bastard,_ she thought.

"Don't stay up too late with those books, Haku-chan. You need your sleep."

"Thank you very much, Anko-san."

"You're welcome," Anko spoke and laid a sisterly kiss on his forehead before walking out of his room.

When she entered her room, she saw a familiar and unwanted shadow there.

"Orochimaru," she hissed.

"What, no 'sensei' attached?" Orochimaru asked. "I'm hurt, Anko-chan. Wasn't what we had special?"

Anko snarled. "You're a sick monster and a traitor to Konoha."

"It wasn't my fault I outgrew this silly little enclave," Orochimaru answered, and Anko could swear she saw him smirk even though he was obscured in shadows.

"What do you want?" Anko asked.

"Haku," Orochimaru replied.

"Well, you can't have him," Anko declared.

"Of course not," Orochimaru remarked with a sick grin in his voice.

"Why do you want him?" Anko interrogated.

"For his Kekkei Genkai, of course," Orochimaru answered.

"Kekkei Genkai?" Anko repeated in disbelief. "Haku has a Kekkei Genkai?"

"He's not aware of it, but I am," Orochimaru stated. "He will make a fine addition to my ranks."

Anko could hear the twisted anticipation in his voice and it made her skin crawl. She could not believe that this man had ever been her teacher, not with the sheer malevolence that had sunk its roots so deeply into his soul.

"You won't take him," Anko snarled. "I'll do whatever I have to so that you can't have him."

Orochimaru reached out to stroke Anko's cheek. "And what, my sweet Anko, makes you think you can stop me?"

"I _can_ and I _will,_" Anko declared. "Now get the fuck out of my house before I paint its walls with your blood."

"So violent," Orochimaru purred. "You are more like me than you'd like to admit. No wonder the people of Konoha don't trust you." He withdrew his hand. "I will leave you and your dear Haku be for now, but I will claim the boy sooner or later."

He was gone. Just like that, he was gone.

Anko let out a sigh of relief and lay on her bed, trying her best to relax.

_This isn't good,_ she thought. _Orochimaru_ _is back and he's after Haku for his bloodline limit. But how does Orochimaru know that Haku has a bloodline limit?_

Anko rose from her bed and picked up her CD player, inserting her favorite rock band's CD into it and turning up the volume to maximum. Usually, this would soothe her, but it wasn't working this time. Orochimaru's visit had left her too rattled to relax.

As tough as she liked to act, Orochimaru had a way of making her feel like that same little girl who had once been his apprentice. That made her angry. Her reputation in Konoha had suffered deeply due to Orochimaru's treason, as the elders and most of the other ninja had assumed that she was no better than him. She had worked hard to get past that and make the village realize that she wasn't just Orochimaru's student. Orochimaru showing up at her house certainly didn't do anything at all to help her standing.

"Damn him," she muttered, although she could barely hear herself over the loud, hard beats of the band playing in her CD player.

* * *

In an apartment in Konoha, Naruto watched the movie _Batman Begins_ on the English-language channel.

"Momochi-sensei gave me a really easy assignment," he remarked to Sakura and Sasuke, who were sitting on either side of him. "All I have to do is watch an English-language movie and take notes on it!"

"Silly," Sasuke muttered.

"What do you mean, bastard?" Naruto asked angrily.

"The cape would get in the way of his movements . . . and can he turn his head in that thing?" Sasuke answered.

"It's called suspending disbelief!" Naruto answered.

"Sasuke-kun doesn't have to suspend anything," Sakura defended.

"He'll be suspending something," Naruto mumbled. "I'll suspend him from the ledge of this apartment."

"_I don't know, I swear to God!_" the corrupt cop protested on the screen.

"_SWEAR TO ME!_" Batman roared.

"I never get tired of that line," a familiar smooth voice remarked.

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke looked behind them and saw Kakashi leaning forward on the couch.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed. "You like Batman, too?"

"Yes," Kakashi admitted with an unabashed grin.

"So you don't read that perverted book all the time," Sakura commented.

"No, Sakura-chan, I do not," Kakashi answered. "After you're done with the movie, we'll train. In the meantime, do you have any popcorn? I'm hungry."

Sakura passed Kakashi the popcorn bowl and the patch-wearing young teacher took a handful and ate it.

"Buttery goodness."

An hour or so later, the movie was over. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke had each gone into separate rooms to change into their ninja garb, as did Kakashi.

Naruto wore a black-sleeved orange jacket and black pants. Sakura wore a dark red zip-up top and miniskirt with black shorts. Sasuke wore a blue shirt and long khaki shorts with mesh arm-covers. Kakashi wore a dull green jonin vest over a navy Kevlar mesh shirt and pants, along with a mask covering his face all the way up to his eyes. All four wore forehead protectors with a metal bar marked by Konoha's symbol, but Kakashi wore his in such a way that it covered his left eye.

"Let's go," Kakashi said.

* * *

The four ninja leaped into the night, moving swiftly in the shadows. Within minutes, they reached the open field in the center of the forest.

"Now we begin," Kakashi stated. "Come at me, all of you, and do it as one."

The three genin charged Kakashi as one, each attacking him from a different angle. Naruto leaped up and aimed a kick for his head, while Sasuke's elbow flew toward Kakashi's midsection, and Sakura swept her leg to kick Kakashi's feet out from under him. Kakashi caught Naruto's ankle and tossed him while bending backwards to avoid Sasuke and going into a handstand to avoid Sakura.

"Very good," Kakashi remarked, catching a kunai that Naruto had flung at him as he flew toward a tree. Interestingly enough, he was still in the handstand position . . . and now he was balancing his body weight on just one hand.

Sasuke quickly performed some hand signs. "Fire Style! Fireball Technique!"

He breathed out a fireball, which Kakashi performed a one-handed cartwheel to avoid. By the time the silver-haired jonin landed, Sasuke was already attacking him again. Kakashi blocked Sasuke's attacks with one hand while using the other to read _Icha_ _Icha Paradise._

Sasuke growled. "Still not taking us seriously, Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi found himself impaled in the back by shuriken and kunai. He vanished, revealing that he'd been nothing but a shadow clone.

"Shit!" Naruto exclaimed in frustration.

"Where'd he go?" Sakura asked.

"Boo," Kakashi's voice spoke before fists and feet found themselves embedded in vulnerable midriffs, thus knocking the owners of those midriffs to the ground. The jonin revealed himself, holding _Icha_ _Icha Paradise_ in one hand. "At least you fight better together than you used to."

"Shadow Clone Technique!" Naruto exclaimed, creating about twenty doppelgangers.

Kakashi smiled under his mask. "Naruto, you know as well as I do that you're not the only one here that knows that technique. Shadow Clone Technique!"

An equal number of Kakashi doppelgangers faced down Naruto's doppelgangers. The two small armies of doppelgangers charged each other, only for Naruto's side to be quickly overwhelmed by Kakashi's side. The Naruto clones quickly dissipated, as did Kakashi's clones, until only one of each was left.

"You're going down, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto declared.

Kakashi performed some hand signs that were very familiar to Naruto.

"Aw, crap," Naruto had just enough time to say before Kakashi revealed his overpowering technique.

Smoke billowed around Kakashi, obscuring his frame. It soon faded away to reveal a beautiful silver-haired woman posed enticingly among clouds that obscured her naughty bits.

"Hi there," she greeted seductively.

Naruto collapsed with blood gushing from his nose. "Now I know what it feels like."

Sasuke was doing his best not to stare, but his eyes kept drifting toward the beautiful woman that Kakashi had become.

"AHHH!" Sakura cried out. "Kakashi-sensei! Quit doing that!"

"Doing what, Sakura-chan?" Ninja Centerfold Kakashi asked in mock innocence. Smoke once again obscured "her" figure, fading away to reveal the male, fully clothed Kakashi. "Has anyone learned anything valuable today?"

"Yeah, that you're just as bad as Naruto!" Sakura declared hotly.

Kakashi chuckled. "No. You see, Sakura, not all fights are won by physical force. As a ninja, you must learn to use deception and trickery to outsmart an opponent. The Ninja Centerfold works quite well for this purpose because a straight male or a lesbian who looks at a beautiful naked woman will not be able to think clearly and that will grant the advantage to the person using that technique, assuming he or she knows how to use that advantage."

Sasuke looked at Naruto. "Dead Last, get up."

Naruto shot to his feet. "Don't call me Dead Last, asshole!"

Sasuke just grinned. "You look like you were ganged up on by jonin and beaten to within half an inch of your life."

Naruto quickly wiped the blood off his nose and glared at Kakashi. "When did you learn my technique?"

"When you were using it to prove your insane theory that the Godaime Hokage really was a lesbian," Kakashi replied coolly.

"I had plenty of evidence!" Naruto declared.

"Yes, the evidence of your perverse thinking," Kakashi answered.

"This conversation is getting disturbing," Sakura said.

"Indeed," Sasuke agreed.

Kakashi's voice turned grave suddenly. "We are in deep trouble."

"Why?" Naruto inquired.

"Orochimaru," Kakashi responded. "He's back."

"Orochimaru again?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes, Orochimaru again," Kakashi answered. "Did you think he'd give up so easily? The man is an obsessed, power-hungry monster."

"What is he after?" Sakura questioned.

"What else, Sakura-chan?" Kakashi replied. "He wants the ninja enclaves to band together under his leadership and conquer the whole of Japan. To do this, he'll go after anyone with a Kekkei Genkai."

"No . . ." Naruto murmured. "That means he'll go after Hinata and Neji!"

"Not just them, Naruto," Kakashi spoke. "Sasuke and Haku, too."

"Haku?" Naruto echoed. "But he's not a ninja!"

"He has no formal training or experience, but he possesses a Kekkai Genkai, alright," Kakashi stated. "He might be in the most danger of all, since Orochimaru will doubtlessly find him the easiest to persuade or coerce into his cause."

* * *

Meanwhile, the Demon of the Hidden Mist rode his motorcycle straight to Gato's corporate headquarters. He wasn't going to wait for Gato to send his thugs to kill him. He was going to come straight to Gato and kill him.

The Demon parked his motorcycle in the corporate headquarters' parking lot and walked to the elevator, only to be stopped by a pair of men in suits.

"Get the fuck out of my way," he snarled as he drew the large sword from his back and charged. The suited men pulled out semi-automatic guns and opened fire on him. The Demon used his sword as a shield and the bullets ricocheted off it, striking the men. With one swift motion, he slashed both men and they collapsed, their blood pooling out from underneath them. "Bitches."

He walked into the elevator and hit the special button that would take him to Gato's office. When he reached the office, he saw a virtual army of thugs parted in the middle to reveal Gato's smirking face.

"Ah, Demon of the Hidden Mist," he sneered. "Good to see you."

The Demon smirked underneath his bandages. "You won't be thinking that once I'm through with you."

"You're a little too expensive for my tastes," Gato remarked. "I was gonna send my guys to hunt your diabolical ass down, but now that you've come to us, we can kill you right here."

The Demon drew his sword. "Come on, all of you."

"Kill him," Gato ordered.

The thugs pulled out submachine guns and semi-automatics and all of them opened fire on the Demon of the Hidden Mist. He simply stood there, either allowing them to perforate him or helpless to do anything about it.

To their surprise, he dissolved into water.

"What the fuck?" Gato uttered.

"Here's Johnny!" the Demon exclaimed as he descended upon Gato's thugs and started slicing through them. One ended up cut in vertical halves and another was cut through from shoulder to hip. He decapitated a third and brutally impaled a fourth before slicing upward, cutting through his torso and head. About a baker's dozen of thugs gathered together to shoot at him but he ducked and weaved between bullets, letting them shoot each other as they had lined up in a circle. More thugs took shots at him but he deflected those bullets with his sword, letting them bounce off and hit other thugs.

Gato watched in horror as the Demon of the Hidden Mist slaughtered his men. Deciding not to take any chances, he fled for his life, only to be struck in the leg by a stray bullet. The crooked businessman collapsed, crawling on his arms to reach his personal elevator. Unfortunately, he was pinned to the ground by a large blade in his back.

"AAAAHHHHH!" Gato screamed.

"Hey. How ya doing?" the Demon whispered menacingly.

Gato looked up at the Demon . . . and saw the face of the Devil himself.

"You're a dead man," the Demon snarled. "You do realize that, right?"

"Guh-guh-guh," Gato uttered, hardly able to speak through the blood rising in his throat.

"And you know where you're gonna go?" the Demon inquired, although it was more of a rhetorical question than anything else. "Hell. Right where demons like me reside. They'll eat you alive, little man. You'll be nothing but fresh prey for them."

Gato spat blood at the Demon.

"I was gonna make it quick and painless, but now I think I'm gonna let you die slow," the Demon stated as he pulled his sword out of Gato's back, releasing a virtual geyser of blood. He attached the sword to his back and walked out of the dying Gato's office.

Once outside the corporate headquarters, he walked to his motorcycle, only to be confronted by a pale man with dark hair and yellow eyes.

"Excellent work, Momochi Zabuza," the man complimented with an evil smile on his face. "Or do you prefer to be addressed as the Demon of the Hidden Mist?"

"How do you know who I am?" the Demon asked.

"You did your best to expunge your records back in Kiri," the man replied. "But there is such a thing as hard copy, Zabuza."

"What do you want with me?" the Demon questioned angrily.

"It's not you I want, Zabuza," the man answered. "It's the boy you so fiercely crave. Yukikaze Haku, is it?"

"You won't have him!" the Demon roared. "I won't let you have him! Now who are you?"

"Orochimaru," the man responded. "Now . . . if you won't join me, then simply stay out of my way and no harm will come to you. Interfere . . . and your life is forfeit."

The Demon drew his sword again. "I just did a whole lotta killing back up there. You wanna be next on my list?"

"Be that way, Momochi Zabuza," Orochimaru hissed. "Be that way." He vanished into the shadows.

"Fuck," the Demon mumbled and got on his motorcycle, riding into the night.

* * *

End Notes: So there you go. The relationship between Zabuza and Haku continues to develop and we got a little look at Team Seven, or Team Kakashi as some people call them. Will Zabuza and Haku ever get together? Will Kakashi find the strength to either deny his feelings for Sakura or confess to her? What is Orochimaru up to and how does he know about Haku's Kekkei Genkai? All these questions and more will be answered.

By the way, Yukikaze is a last name I made up for Haku, since it's Japanese for "snowy wind" or "blizzard." It makes sense, in light of his Kekkai Genkai. Also, "aishiteru" is Japanese for "I love you."

You're free to let me know what you think of this story.


	3. Serpent and Demon

"Second Chances in the Mist"

Chapter 3: "The Serpent and the Demon"

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, not me.

Author's note: Sorry I took so long. I've just been trying to figure out how to work this third chapter, which will be the last chapter of this story. Don't worry. Nobody dies . . . except for . . . ah, ah, ah. That's telling.

If you're wondering how Zabuza does his water ninjutsu without being in the presence of water, that's because water is everywhere. It's just often in the form of vapor. Zabuza can manipulate the vapor in the air whenever he's not in the Land of Waves.

Now let's start this overdue story.

Momochi Zabuza, alias the Demon of the Hidden Mist, returned to his home extremely pissed.

_That Orochimaru fucker isn't getting his hands on Haku!_ he vowed silently. _I'll kill him first._

The assassin undid the bandages that disguised his face, discarding them and removing his Hidden Mist headband. He shed his leather attire and crawled into the shower, letting the cold water cool his body. He'd see Haku tomorrow . . . hopefully.

The next morning, Zabuza swiftly dressed himself and exited his apartment, racing down the steps at a speed that would have killed a less coordinated person. He made it out of his apartment complex and into his car. He started it and drove out of the parking lot, heading for the school.

Once he arrived, he brusquely passed by Kakashi, muttering "Fuck off" when the patch-wearing teacher greeted him. He had just entered the school building when he was confronted by Asuma.

"The principal wants to see you," he said.

"What the hell does she want?" Zabuza asked.

"I don't know," Asuma replied. "She just told me she needed to see you."

Zabuza growled lowly and stalked into the principal's office.

"Tsunade," he greeted tersely, not bothering to add any kind of honorific to her name.

The woman who looked back at him seemed to be only in her early twenties, with long blonde hair partially restrained and a diamond tattoo on her forehead. The most notable aspect of her physically was her more-than-generous bosom, which was presently being restrained by a tightly closed business jacket.

The assassin-slash-teacher knew the woman's appearance was just a transformation technique to disguise her real age, which was somewhere around fifty. He also knew that she was strong enough to send him through a wall with one punch if he wasn't careful.

"What brings me to your attention?" Zabuza asked.

"You pummeled three students to the edge of death," Tsunade replied.

"They were harassing Haku," Zabuza said. "They deserved what they got."

"As admirable as your protective impulses are, I'd rather not deal with the headache of parents who act as though their kids are perfectly innocent when they're worse than some devils," Tsunade groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Been drinking much?" Zabuza asked tauntingly.

"Shut up, Zabuza-san," Tsunade answered irritably.

"So am I suspended or can I go?" Zabuza inquired.

"Knowing what kind of assholes those kids are, I'm inclined to go easy on you," Tsunade responded. "Go teach your class. I'm sure they're waiting for you."

Zabuza exited Tsunade's office without another word.

The assassin watched his students very closely, his eyes landing momentarily on a black-haired girl with a sour expression on her face. Something about the girl – Tsuchi Kin, was it? – made him suspicious, but he would wait until later to figure her out.

Right now, he was concerned about Haku. A quick but detailed glance at him ensured Zabuza that the younger male hadn't come to any harm between yesterday and today.

"Your entrance exams are coming," Zabuza spoke. "I hope you've been preparing."

"Yeah," Kin grumbled.

"Good," Zabuza said, "because we're just about to wrap up the history of the shinobi."

After class was over, Zabuza went to talk to Haku.

"Haku," he spoke, his voice almost preternaturally soft.

"Yes, Momochi-sensei?" Haku asked.

"Are you all right?" Zabuza asked.

"If you're still worried about yesterday, I'm fine," Haku replied. "Those boys haven't tried to harass me since. I guess you scared them a lot."

Zabuza grinned, carefully keeping all traces of malevolence out of the expression. He didn't want to scare Haku, after all.

"I . . . found this," the young teacher said, pulling out the refolded piece of paper from his pocket and handing it to Haku.

"Did you look at it?" Haku asked softly, somewhat timidly.

"Yes," Zabuza admitted. "It was a great drawing. You have a talent."

"Thank you, Momochi-sensei," Haku whispered. "I based it on a dream I had . . . of you."

"What was the dream about?" Zabuza asked, curious.

"You were a proud and beautiful ninja," Haku replied. "You answered to no one and you lived your own way."

If Zabuza wasn't so hardened, he might have blushed at the sheer admiration he heard in Haku's voice.

"Thanks for the compliment," he said. "But you have a class to get to and you don't want to be late."

"Um, sure," Haku said, pocketing the picture and hurrying away to his next class.

"'A proud and beautiful ninja,' eh?" Kakashi remarked.

"Got tired of spying on Sakura-chan?" Zabuza retorted.

Kakashi narrowed his visible eye, the tightening of his lips signaling that he was not amused. Zabuza merely smirked at him, delighting in the silver-haired teacher's discomfort.

"Apparently, your situation is not quite as hopeless as I thought," Kakashi observed. "He clearly returns your feelings."

"Yeah," Zabuza agreed. "Kinda like how you wish Sakura-chan would return yours." He scoffed. "Won't happen, Hatake. Not as long as she's obsessed with 'Sasuke-kun.' Stupid brat. Has girls practically begging him to deflower them and he ignores them. Idiot."

Kakashi didn't answer that at all.

The two teachers went their separate ways and didn't see each other until the lunch period. Kakashi, as usual, was reading _Make-Out Paradise._ Zabuza, as usual, was insulting his taste in literature. Gai, as usual, was trying to distract Kakashi with some kind of challenge. Iruka, as usual, was trying to pull Kakashi away from the book. Asuma and Kurenai, as usual, were trying to ignore the madness that centered around Kakashi whenever he had that "damnable" book out.

"That book sucks," Zabuza stated. "Amateurish shit."

"Do I insult your reading choices?" Kakashi asked calmly.

"If I let you know what I like to read, I'd have to kill you," Zabuza answered.

"Kakashi, my eternal rival, I challenge you to a race on the track!" Gai exclaimed.

"You're on," Kakashi answered, pocketing _Make-Out Paradise_ and exiting the teacher's lounge with Gai. Zabuza exited as well, but he wasn't following the rivals.

As soon as the three men exited, Zabuza went to find Haku. He succeeded, spotting the boy eating with Gaara, Hinata, and Naruto. The blond boy was a surprise, as he usually hung around Sasuke and Sakura. Zabuza noted to his immense amusement that Naruto's very presence was causing Hinata's face to turn very, very red. Again, the missing-nin couldn't divine what the Hyuga heir saw in Naruto.

Zabuza looked around and spotted Kin somewhere nearby, doing the same thing as him. Next to her were two boys, one with wild bluish hair and the other with close-cropped black hair. He recognized the one with bluish hair as Zaku and the one with black hair as Dosu.

He got a bad feeling from those three. They were troublemakers, but that wasn't why he had the bad feeling. He got the impression that they were up to something, something not very good, and something including Haku.

He sent them a warning stare, albeit one full of killing intent. He smirked in satisfaction when he saw the three shiver, but none of them were quite backing down.

"Want me to scare them off for you?" Kakashi whispered.

Zabuza barely acknowledged the silver-haired teacher.

"I don't need your help, bastard."

"Yes, I see you're handling them nicely," Kakashi answered coolly.

The assassin didn't even need to look to know that his fellow instructor had left.

That night, Zabuza was garbed as the Demon of the Hidden Mist and riding his hellish beast of a motorcycle. It was a Kawasaki Ninja, only modified to go twice as fast as allowed and with a chassis that screamed at everyone that saw it to stay away or die. It helped that the thing had an intimidating roar when he was riding it.

He was going to stake out the house where Haku lived with Anko and other outcasts like him. If Orochimaru thought to strike there, it would be the last thing the serpentine bastard ever did. The Demon would make sure of that.

The Demon parked his motorcycle near the house, only hiding it from view, and ran the rest of the way with chakra-enhanced speed. When he reached it, he spotted the Copy Ninja and his three genin brats – Uzumaki Naruto, in orange and black; Haruno Sakura, in scarlet; Uchiha Sasuke, in blue and khaki – waiting.

"What the hell are you doing here, Demon?" Naruto asked, ready to attack. "You working for Orochimaru?"

The Demon grabbed Naruto by the throat, pulling him so close that they were nose to nose.

"He's after someone very precious to me. Don't ever accuse me of working for him."

He dumped Naruto on his rear.

"What was that for?" Sakura asked.

The Demon didn't even regard her.

"Relax, Demon," the Copy Ninja said. "If you're not working for Orochimaru, then you know what they say, 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend.'"

The Demon snorted in derision.

"You must suspect the same thing we do, that Orochimaru has spies here," the Copy Ninja went on. "You wouldn't be here otherwise."

"I wouldn't trust him," Sasuke said.

"I don't recall asking any of you to trust me," the Demon spat.

"For once, I'm with the bastard," Naruto said.

"You're both wrong," the Copy Ninja said. "There is something in there very precious to him. Orochimaru is threatening it. Therefore, the Demon wants him taken down. Isn't that right . . . Zabuza?"

The Demon growled under his breath. "Am I that transparent . . . Kakashi?"

Kakashi just smirked under his mask. "No, you told Naruto in an outburst of rage when he accused you of working for Orochimaru."

"You think you're so smart, don't you, Kakashi?" Zabuza sneered.

"I like to think so, yes," Kakashi answered amiably.

"Can't we stop talking already?" Naruto asked. "Those Sound bastards might be trying to get at Haku already!"

Indeed, the sounds of a fight had broken out inside the house.

Zabuza kicked down the door and ran inside, Kakashi and his team following. He ran up the stairs, looking for Haku. Along the way, he saw Zaku tumble down the steps in agony. He kept going up the stairs, finding Anko in the middle of a fight with Dosu and Kin, the former assaulting the specialized jonin with sound waves from his Melody Arm. Both were dressed in gray-and-white-and-black camouflage outfits.

Kin took notice of the assassin and threw needles at him. He knew that the bells on her needles were meant to distract him so that he didn't see her following attack until it was too late. He didn't fall for it, catching all her needles and throwing them back at her. He wasn't as precise as the Haku he'd known in his first life was, but he was good enough to strike her in a pressure point or two.

Anko shot her Shadow Snakes at Dosu, striking him in the face and hand.

"Where's Haku?" Zabuza snarled.

Downstairs, he heard the sound of combat and he knew that Kakashi and his brats were occupied.

"Still in his room," Anko replied.

Zabuza grabbed Dosu by the throat as the Shadow Snakes' poison began to work on him.

"I knew something wasn't right about you punks," he growled. "Now what the fuck do you want with Haku?"

"Why the fuck should I tell you?" Dosu asked.

"You'll tell me because if you don't, I'll just rip the water out of your body," Zabuza replied. "And since your body is about 80 percent composed of that, you'll end up quite dead, won't you? And it'll be very painful the whole way through. You don't wanna go out like that, do you?"

Dosu glared at Zabuza.

"Do your worst."

"As you wish."

Zabuza concentrated his chakra into the Sound ninja's body, focusing it in the water that composed so much of it, and used it to push the water out through his pores in one violent deluge. It was pure agony, but only for the few seconds it took for him to die.

"You're a sick motherfucker, you know that?" Anko remarked, but she didn't sound that horrified. Hell, it almost sounded like a compliment.

"Yeah," Zabuza answered, going to Haku's room. To his horror, he found Orochimaru in there, with a sleeping Haku in his arms. He drew upon the water he had just extracted from Dosu and shaped it into a sphere. "Let him go."

"Or you'll do what, Demon of the Hidden Mist?" Orochimaru asked. "As strong as you are, you simply are not a match for me."

"We'll see about that, you son of a bitch," Zabuza snarled, using his free hand to draw his sword. He charged Orochimaru, who simply darted out of the way like a snake and bounded out the window. Zabuza leaped after him, both of them running at tremendous, chakra-enhanced speeds.

As the two streaked through Konoha, Zabuza saw Orochimaru suddenly thrown back by a powerful blow. To his rage, Orochimaru still had a firm grip on Haku.

_Time to remedy that,_ Zabuza thought, jumping up to retrieve Haku from Orochimaru's grip. Upon grabbing Haku, the assassin used his water sphere to trap the serpentine fiend.

"Haku," he whispered. "You ok?"

"Momochi-sensei?" Haku asked, only half-conscious. His eyes finally opened and he looked into the assassin's eyes. "It's you . . ."

"Don't talk right now," Zabuza whispered.

They heard the sound of water splashing and Zabuza knew that Orochimaru had freed himself. He drew his sword and stood in front of Haku.

"You won't claim this one, Orochimaru," the voice of Tsunade spoke.

Orochimaru turned to Tsunade with an evil expression.

"And you think you can stop me?"

"I can," Tsunade answered icily.

The snake and the slug of the Legendary Three began to attack each other with swift, powerful blows. Orochimaru was every bit as quick as the serpents he could summon, which made hitting him very difficult. Not that Tsunade wasn't putting any effort into her blows; to the contrary, she probably would kill him if she could land a direct blow on him. Instead, he was moving too quickly for that, so she had to settle for glancing strikes.

Tsunade jumped back from Orochimaru and stomped the ground, triggering a small earthquake in an attempt to shake the serpentine ninja. Unfortunately, Orochimaru's chakra control was fine enough that he remained firmly rooted to where he stood. It took everything Zabuza had to keep himself and Haku standing.

"Watch it!" he growled.

Orochimaru spat a snake out of his mouth and it opened its jaws to reveal a sword hilt. Orochimaru grasped the hilt and pulled the sword out of the snake's mouth.

"Kusanagi," Tsunade uttered in realization.

Orochimaru just smirked at her before slashing with Kusanagi. Tsunade parried the slash with her bare hand and threw a kick at Orochimaru, but the serpent was just too quick.

"Bored, Demon of the Hidden Mist?" Orochimaru asked with an evil smirk. He pulled out a scroll and slashed himself across the torso with Kusanagi. He then threw Kusanagi into the air and smeared his blood on the scroll.

"Hell," the Demon muttered. "A summoning technique."

The Demon was indeed correct, as a giant snake soon emerged. He extended his sword as the snake attacked, jumping out of the way while holding onto Haku and slashing the monstrous creature. Unfortunately, the slash didn't make a single lick of difference; the snake was still coming.

In the meantime, Orochimaru had caught Kusanagi and was now using it to duel Tsunade.

Zabuza let go of Haku, but only to perform his water replication technique, summoning about twenty water doppelgangers. All twenty Zabuza attacked the giant snake, slashing at it with their swords. As hard as they fought, they were no match for the snake and ultimately were vanquished, dissolving into water.

"Let's try something else," he growled, performing the hand signs and chant required for the water dragon technique, forming it out of the water that used to be his clones. The water dragon attacked the snake, the two creatures tangling together in a ferocious struggle.

It was at this point that Kakashi and his team arrived, along with Anko.

"What's the matter, Hokage?" Orochimaru asked mockingly. "Can't fight me on your own?"

"Sasuke, keep the hell away from him," Kakashi ordered. "Anko, you and I will help Zabuza."

"Why are we helping him?" Anko wondered curiously.

"Because he'll die a horrible, ugly death if we don't and I don't wish to break any hearts," Kakashi answered.

"Sure," Anko mumbled, smirking slightly.

Kakashi pulled back his forehead protector, revealing his Sharingan eye.

"What the hell are we supposed to do?" Naruto asked.

"Be ready to help," Kakashi replied.

The water dragon, as strong a technique as that was, was ultimately no match for Orochimaru's snake and collapsed into water.

"Haku," Zabuza said, looking him in the eyes. "I'll be back. In the meantime, don't get yourself killed."

Haku had no answer for that, as Zabuza whirled and attacked the giant snake with chakra-fueled super-speed, slashing multiple times in the space of mere seconds. The giant snake refused to be felled, though, and remained upright. It was at that moment that the assassin got an idea.

_This is crazy,_ he thought, _but I'm gonna do it anyway._

He jumped and dived into the giant snake's mouth.

"What the hell did he just do?" Naruto asked.

"He's crazy!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Yes, but this has nothing to do with it," Kakashi said calmly.

A familiar sword blade suddenly punched through the giant snake's scales from the inside. The blade moved upward and downward, cutting the snake completely open, and Zabuza stepped out of it, covered in the guts of the snake he had just killed.

"Heh, impressive," Anko remarked. "Gotta love a man willing to dive into his work."

"Now for Orochimaru," Zabuza snarled. Before anyone could stop him, the assassin charged at the S-class missing-nin, ready to attack. However, Orochimaru was not felled by Zabuza's attack but rather by a rain of water needles.

"What the hell?" Tsunade wondered, looking over Orochimaru's needle-pierced body.

Orochimaru managed a weak snicker. "I see my choice was correct."

The assembled ninja looked at Haku.

"He would have killed Momochi-sensei" was the boy's only answer.

"Your Kekkei Genkai – it's water manipulation, isn't it?" Kakashi deduced.

"Kekkei Genkai?" Haku wondered. "Is that what it's called?"

"Yeah," Anko replied. "A bloodline limit, meaning that those specific abilities are limited to your biological family."

"And here I thought I was just a freak," Haku remarked ironically.

Zabuza stared him down and gruffly stated, "You have a gift, kid. Given some time and actual training, you could do something great with it."

"Long time no see, Orochimaru," a voice, low and cold, spoke.

Everyone present turned to see a black-robed young man who could have passed for an older Sasuke.

"Itachi," Sasuke growled, immediately beginning the hand signs to summon the Chidori. Kakashi raised a hand to halt him.

"Relax, little brother," Itachi said. "I'm not here for you. I'm here for him." He then addressed Orochimaru directly. "You've had this coming for a long time, snake." He activated the Mangekyo Sharingan. "Amaterasu."

Orochimaru screamed as he was engulfed in black flames, reduced to ash.

"What are you doing here, Itachi?" Kakashi asked.

"Why should I tell you . . . old friend?" Itachi asked. "My quarrel is not with you."

Sasuke was barely able to swallow his rage. There was the killer of his family right in front of him and Kakashi wouldn't let him take the son of a bitch out! What the hell could he have to say that was worth letting him live a moment longer?

"Hey, bastard!" Naruto shouted at Itachi. "I don't know what you're doing here, but you better go back where you came from because there's nothing good waiting for you here!"

"The Nine-Tailed Fox's jailer," Itachi addressed him. "I'll deal with you when the time comes."

He turned and walked away.

"Are we going to just stand there and let him walk out of here?" Naruto asked angrily.

"For now, that is all we can do," Tsunade replied. "The only way we'd be able to stop him is if we killed him and we need him alive, to find out what Akatsuki is planning."

Zabuza walked up to Naruto and punched him in the head.

"Owww!" Naruto yelled, whirling to face Zabuza. "What the fuck was that for, you son of a bitch?"

"For not realizing that Hinata likes you," Zabuza answered. "For Kami's sake, everybody but you knows."

"Hinata . . . likes me?" Naruto wondered, absolutely stunned by the fact that somebody had romantic feelings for him.

"I don't know why," Zabuza said.

_Three years later_

Yukikaze Haku – garbed in a dark blue robe over black clothes, his hair bound with pins, and his head bearing a Konoha forehead protector – stood in the center of ten water clones of Momochi Zabuza.

"Give it your best shot, Haku," one clone ordered.

The clones attacked Haku and the young man drew a senbon needle, stabbing one of the clones with it. The clone dissolved into water and Haku impaled another one while swinging back to kick a third. The third clone blocked his kick, but Haku flipped back and threw his needle at him, piercing him squarely in the throat. This clone dissolved as well.

Now there were seven clones left.

Haku moved like an angelic demon, beauty and deadly efficiency mixed into one graceful package. Soon enough there were no water clones left.

The young man heard the sound of clapping and turned. "Zabuza-sensei . . ."

"It's ok, Haku," Zabuza whispered, also wearing a Konoha forehead protector. "You did great. And there's no need to call me sensei when we're alone."

After Orochimaru's attempt to target any young person with a bloodline limit, the Council of Konoha had decided it was best if Haku was trained as a ninja. Zabuza, having been instated as a citizen and ninja of Konoha in exchange for a pardon for his various crimes, offered to take Haku as his apprentice. It took some work, but Kakashi and Tsunade had managed to sway them, something that left the ex-assassin in their debt . . . which Kakashi mercifully did not use for mockery. He knew better than to toy with Zabuza's feelings regarding Haku.

Speaking of feelings, one year ago, Kakashi had grown a spine and confessed to Sakura that he was in love with her. To his surprise and relief, Sakura had confessed to harboring similar feelings, although nobody actually knew what went down between them until Zabuza paid an impromptu visit to Kakashi's place.

He'd run away barely five minutes later, muttering something about needing to wash his eyes out. He wouldn't tell anyone what he saw, except that "it was something out of that perverted book he's always reading."

Fortunately, Sakura had by then become a specialized jonin, so she wasn't necessarily Kakashi's student anymore, which prevented a scandal.

In the present, Haku leaned up on his tiptoes to lay a chaste kiss on Zabuza's lips, which the former missing-nin returned in full, silently thanking whoever had brought them here for this second chance.

In a higher plane, a blond man in a dull red coat over a jonin uniform watched over Zabuza and Haku.

"Are you sure this was a good idea?" an older man in white robes asked him.

"Sarutobi, you know it was," the blond responded. "Can't you see how happy they are now?"

"I suppose you have a point . . . Kazuma," Sarutobi replied. He changed the view, this time of what looked like a younger version of the blond man sharing ramen with a dark-haired, pale-eyed girl.

Kazuma smiled. "And helping Zabuza has also helped Naruto." He chuckled as Naruto and Hinata accidentally ate the same strand of ramen, ending up just a millimeter away from kissing. "Maybe, in time, the village will forgive him for the Nine-Tailed Fox's actions."

"Maybe," Sarutobi said.

The two former Hokage departed from their observation of the earthly plane and to greener pastures . . . such as those inhabited by their wives.

End Notes: All right, I'm done. Now I concede that this might have been somewhat rushed, but I really couldn't see anywhere else to go with this. Sorry it was so short, but hey, Zabuza and Haku are together now and that's what you came for, right?

Itachi killing Orochimaru was something out of left field, I'll admit, but Orochimaru had it coming. Also, he's one of the few people Orochimaru actually fears, so I figured it'd be somewhat fitting if Itachi did him in.

If you're wondering where Jiraiya was, I couldn't figure out how to insert him, so I had to leave him out. Sorry, Jiraiya fans.

As you might be able to guess, that was the Third and Fourth Hokage in that last scene. A lot of people have speculated that the Fourth is Naruto's father for three main reasons. First, the Fourth looks like he could be Naruto's older brother. Second, Naruto is referred to as the Fourth's legacy, which is kind of a fancy way of referring to someone's child. Third, what the hell kind of Kage would seal a Tailed Beast inside someone else's kid?

That's that. Hope you liked it or hated it enough to leave a review.


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